Heroin overdose deaths on the rise in Hennepin County скачать в хорошем качестве

Heroin overdose deaths on the rise in Hennepin County

Thursday morning at North Memorial Medical Center, a 29-year-old woman named Amanda from Pine City told her story about her one-time addiction to heroin and prescription painkillers. "I was actually kind of scared using heroin, but I did it anyway because it was cheaper," Amanda said. "I ended up in debt because of all of it." Amanda's story has become all too common, which is why she joined an emergency room doctor and Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek in an effort to help combat the growing problem of heroin abuse in Minnesota. "We have some of the cheapest heroin in the country here in the Twin Cities metropolitan area," Stanek said. "We also have the highest purity levels of anywhere in the United States." Something that makes the problem even worse is the ease with which people can use the drug. "They can snort it. They can smoke it. It gets into the body by just about any route other than rubbing it on your skin," said Dr. David Roberts an ER physician and toxicologist at North Memorial. Dr. Roberts says that in 2008, Hennepin County saw only four deaths from heroin overdose. Last year, that number was 37. "The deaths are often rapid because heroin suppresses respirations," Dr. Roberts said. "You slip into a coma and you simply stop breathing. If that happens pre--hospital, the chance of death is very high." As for Amanda, she used to spend $160 a day to feed her drug habit, but eventually she sought help. "I was out of money. I was out of options," she said. "That's when I knew I needed a serious treatment program." Now, she hopes other addicts hear her message to seek treatment as well. "It's definitely changed my life," she said. The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office says that prescription painkillers are gateway drugs to heroin because both are opiate based. When the supply of painkillers runs out from the home medicine cabinet, the addict turns to heroin, which is less expensive. Police urge people to use county collection sites to dispose of prescription drugs. Delane Cleveland http://www.ccxmedia.org/   / ccxmedia.org     / ccxnews   12 News is on Comcast cable channel 12 in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis and includes the cities Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Golden Valley, Maple Grove, New Hope, Osseo, Plymouth and Robbinsdale.